I was a classic arachnophobe until about 6 months ago, when it rather suddenly shut off - one day I just went from "crap a spider get it away from me" to "spiders, meh". Probably a brain tumor.

Anyway, before that point, the thought of stepping into that room would have freaked me right out. Now, it would be no worse than a room with cockroaches, grasshoppers, etc. - unpleasant, but not terrifying.

That said, I used to live in a crappy apartment where roaches would crawl into my bed at night. I still hate waking up to tiny feet scuttling on my face. So, I'd be fine in this room until the first night... and pretty soon I'd be sleeping comfortably in a room with 300 or so squashed spiders.

We've had a large spider living in a ceiling-corner of our living room for about a year now. She's got a nice web, and she's right by the patio door. When we leave it open with the screen door closed, plenty of mosquitoes find their way in, and she takes care of a large number of them. She's happy, we're happy. She gets to stay.

She doesn't leave that corner. She's there all day and all night. In the daytime she retreats further back. At night, she comes out and sits in the middle of the web.

I really don't understand why people have a problem with spiders. With the exception of the ones that are genuinely dangerous to humans (black widow, brown recluse, etc.) spiders are quiet, clean, non-aggressive, and useful members of a household. Hell, I bet a spider does more to benefit a house than most of those little yip-dogs that are so popular.

All I know is that I'd have been tagged by more mosquitoes and the occasional horsefly if that spider weren't working the door.

WilderKWight:We've had a large spider living in a ceiling-corner of our living room for about a year now. She's got a nice web, and she's right by the patio door. When we leave it open with the screen door closed, plenty of mosquitoes find their way in, and she takes care of a large number of them. She's happy, we're happy. She gets to stay.

She doesn't leave that corner. She's there all day and all night. In the daytime she retreats further back. At night, she comes out and sits in the middle of the web.

I really don't understand why people have a problem with spiders. With the exception of the ones that are genuinely dangerous to humans (black widow, brown recluse, etc.) spiders are quiet, clean, non-aggressive, and useful members of a household. Hell, I bet a spider does more to benefit a house than most of those little yip-dogs that are so popular.

All I know is that I'd have been tagged by more mosquitoes and the occasional horsefly if that spider weren't working the door.

It's the ones that don't know their place and stay put but instead go all free range that cause the rest of them to get a bad rep.

PDX Ghost Hunter:It's the ones that don't know their place and stay put but instead go all free range that cause the rest of them to get a bad rep.

I actually prefer the wolf and jumping spiders because webs are unsightly and sometimes badly placed. I'm actually comforted by the sight of jumping spiders ranging around the apartment. Of course, this is too far north for the brown recluse. Only time I freaked out is when a large wolf spider got in the sock drawer, and the yelp was really just genuine surprise.

Since we got cats, though, the apartment has been inhospitable to any living creature with more than four legs.

Plush_Cthulhu:I found a spider living in my toaster last time I cleaned it out. I had to wonder, wtf was it eating - crumbs??

Spiders are not all that smart; I've seen them set up camp in the darndest places, and usually wind up a starved, dried husk some weeks later. Or it could have just spent the night there.

If the spider was well-fed, you may have some pests coming out at night to eat the crumbs -- but spiders usually leave behind the exoskeleton of their kills, so there should be evidence of such an infestation.